If you have any oppurtunity whatsoever, make friends with a mechanic. This is what happens when you have to take your car to a mechanic that isn't said friend:
My car broke down halfway between home and college. The alternator shot itself in the face. Luckily this was about 10 miles from this dude's house that I'm friends with. So he picked me up and my car got towed to the local mechanic in Lincroft, NJ. They said they'd call me to get permission to take a look at it, call me back with an estimate, and we could probably get it back the next day or the day after.
So they never call me. I called them the next day and they told me, "Yeah we took a look at it already (and charged me 42 bucks for the labor that I was supposed to give permission for) and it's the alternator. We can fix it and call you back this afternoon for about $350 total." That included the tow and the labor already put in so my parents called our family-friend mechanic and he confirmed that it wasn't a bad price. Fine. Fix the car.
The next day, they call me again and tell me "Ok the alternator is finished, BUT we found a gas leak while we were in there."
BULLSHIT! My car get 30 mpg and that hasn't changed since I got it. People are amazed that I can get 30 mpg in a V6 car, so I doubt I could have done it with a fuel leak. Also, I've never seen puddles or any liquid in any parking space where I've parked. In other words, this fucker cracked on of my pipes and wants me to pay for it. And what am I gonna do? It's there now. What am I gonna do, NOT get it fixed? Drive around with a brand new fuel leak? I can't. So he gets to charge me another $100 to fix his bullshit. Fine. It'll be done by 5:30. So I call them at 5:40 as we're on our way to pick up my car to make sure it's ready. The guy answers the phone at the office and says "Yeah it's ready, but we're closing early and going home."
Me: "Can I pick up my car first? You said it'd be ready and I have a job interview tomorrow."
Tech: "Where are you?"
Me: "We just left Sayreville. We'll be there in about 10 minutes."
Tech: "Nah. We're gonna be gone by then. Just pick it up in the morning."
Me: "10 minutes? I don't live around here. I can't pick it up tomorrow and make it to my interview. Can't someone just stay an extra 5 minutes and let me pay and get my keys?"
Tech: "Hold on, I'll see if anyone wants to."
:3 minutes::We're now less than 5 minutes away:
Tech: "Nah, nobody wants to stay that late. Listen, we're all on our way out. Just pick it up in the morning. See ya tomorrow." Click.
2 minutes later we pull up and sure enough, nobody is in the building.
So we head back to my friends house where I've been sleeping on the couch for 2 nights while my car got fixed just to have his parents snap at him, saying "I thought you were going to pick up his car. Well he can't stay here tonight."
"Why not?"
"He's been here for 2 days now. Drive him home."
Home is 1 1/2 hours north of the garage, so they just made their own son waste the gas to drive me home and drive himself back (since his parents wanted him back that night, he couldn't stay at my place and drive me back down in the morning) and now I have to wake up at about 6 in the morning, have my parents drive 1 1/2 hours back down to the mechanic for when I HOPE they open at 8 (they don't actually have hours posted) and MAYBE make it down to my college in time for my 9:30 interview.
WTF is wrong with these people?! :sword: :gun: :sword: :gun::mfinger: :mfinger:
My car broke down halfway between home and college. The alternator shot itself in the face. Luckily this was about 10 miles from this dude's house that I'm friends with. So he picked me up and my car got towed to the local mechanic in Lincroft, NJ. They said they'd call me to get permission to take a look at it, call me back with an estimate, and we could probably get it back the next day or the day after.
So they never call me. I called them the next day and they told me, "Yeah we took a look at it already (and charged me 42 bucks for the labor that I was supposed to give permission for) and it's the alternator. We can fix it and call you back this afternoon for about $350 total." That included the tow and the labor already put in so my parents called our family-friend mechanic and he confirmed that it wasn't a bad price. Fine. Fix the car.
The next day, they call me again and tell me "Ok the alternator is finished, BUT we found a gas leak while we were in there."
BULLSHIT! My car get 30 mpg and that hasn't changed since I got it. People are amazed that I can get 30 mpg in a V6 car, so I doubt I could have done it with a fuel leak. Also, I've never seen puddles or any liquid in any parking space where I've parked. In other words, this fucker cracked on of my pipes and wants me to pay for it. And what am I gonna do? It's there now. What am I gonna do, NOT get it fixed? Drive around with a brand new fuel leak? I can't. So he gets to charge me another $100 to fix his bullshit. Fine. It'll be done by 5:30. So I call them at 5:40 as we're on our way to pick up my car to make sure it's ready. The guy answers the phone at the office and says "Yeah it's ready, but we're closing early and going home."
Me: "Can I pick up my car first? You said it'd be ready and I have a job interview tomorrow."
Tech: "Where are you?"
Me: "We just left Sayreville. We'll be there in about 10 minutes."
Tech: "Nah. We're gonna be gone by then. Just pick it up in the morning."
Me: "10 minutes? I don't live around here. I can't pick it up tomorrow and make it to my interview. Can't someone just stay an extra 5 minutes and let me pay and get my keys?"
Tech: "Hold on, I'll see if anyone wants to."
:3 minutes::We're now less than 5 minutes away:
Tech: "Nah, nobody wants to stay that late. Listen, we're all on our way out. Just pick it up in the morning. See ya tomorrow." Click.
2 minutes later we pull up and sure enough, nobody is in the building.
So we head back to my friends house where I've been sleeping on the couch for 2 nights while my car got fixed just to have his parents snap at him, saying "I thought you were going to pick up his car. Well he can't stay here tonight."
"Why not?"
"He's been here for 2 days now. Drive him home."
Home is 1 1/2 hours north of the garage, so they just made their own son waste the gas to drive me home and drive himself back (since his parents wanted him back that night, he couldn't stay at my place and drive me back down in the morning) and now I have to wake up at about 6 in the morning, have my parents drive 1 1/2 hours back down to the mechanic for when I HOPE they open at 8 (they don't actually have hours posted) and MAYBE make it down to my college in time for my 9:30 interview.
WTF is wrong with these people?! :sword: :gun: :sword: :gun::mfinger: :mfinger: